Love is War
by MiyuTanemura
Summary: Don't believe that things are as they appear, sometimes there's more to it than meets the eye. Natsu/Gray. Main character death. Oneshot


Disclaimer: Not mine, in this story I say, thankfully not mine…

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><p><strong>Love is War<strong>

It's early morning, the sky is clear but for the few stray clouds that float lazily over Magnolia. The sun's shining and brightening every corner of every place in its travel across the sky. This is a peaceful morning, a sometimes difficult thing to achieve in the village of the renowned Guild of not so calm mages, Fairy Tail.

As people get out of their houses to start their days they pause to bask in this pleasant weather, feel the warmth of sunshine touch their skin, the breeze caress faces and tousle hair as the sweet scent of the flowers reaches their nostrils.

Little they know of the dark and menacing clouds that are approaching.

At the Guild, things are also uncharacteristically calm. A small thing has changed – Natsu and Gray are going out.

But by now it's a well-known fact at the Guild and everybody's used to it already.

At the present moment nobody's shocked to see them argue (and destroy certain fundamental parts of the Guild such as walls) and in the next moment see them making out in some more or less hidden corner.

Nobody has a problem with this (though some of the floods that Juvia caused did pose a bit of trouble) and life goes on as usual. Missions continue being filled with a couple more headaches for the Master as the members continue being as rowdy as always. Something akin to peace and quiet has blanketed the Guild.

Unfortunately it doesn't last for long…

* * *

><p>One morning Natsu enters the Guild, followed by Happy who was prattling about one thing or another about Charle. Natsu had heard him for so long that now he only listened with half an ear, only making noncommittal noises at the appropriate moments.<p>

He's happy, life's going well now – he has all this friends, his family, Happy and Gray. This is something that he never thought that could happen – having something with the ice mage. It's true that he had always been an annoying piece in the puzzle of his life. He had always had the knack to infuriate him, made him overcome himself and get better, stronger to protect the ones he loved. His friendship had always been masked by the rivalry (except when Erza was around, then they kind of appeared to be friends, in a slightly plastic way, but friends nonetheless).

It had been after one of their numerous clashes (one when everybody at the Guild had given up on trying to stop them and Erza was out) that the spark, that thing that was always dormant between them, had flared and made them have a frank conversation. An odd thing for these two, true, but it had set the foundations of the relationship between two of the most irascible mages of the Guild. And things had been great, some minimal altercations in-between but everything always ended well. So yes, one could say that things were going well.

As soon as the pair entered the Guild they headed to the missions board, to take a look around. However Natsu doesn't have time to read anything as a hand falls on his shoulder. Turning around he sees Gray.

A smile reaches his lips. He didn't expect to see him here so early.

But his smile isn't mirrored, Gray's looking at him gravely, some muscles are clearly corded with tension. A corresponding tension starts to fill Natsu.

"Gray. What's wrong?" he demands.

The ice mage looks around and heaves a sigh.

"Huh. We need to talk. But let's go to one of the back rooms, it'll be better there…" he nods absentmindedly as if answering to a voice inside his head.

"Al-alright. Let's go…" Natsu agrees, suspicious. On passing he signals Happy not to follow. He also waves distractedly at Mirajane as they pass by her. He fails to see her waving back.

They finally get to one of the storage rooms, this one hasn't been used lately, he assumes, noticing the coldness and dust that have fallen over the covered boxes that are pilled haphazardly throughout. There isn't much light but even so, Natsu can see Gray brace himself and stand tall as he turns to face him.

They pause, staring at each other.

At first Natsu just waits for Gray to start but as he doesn't do anything, he urges. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Gray appears to be struggling with himself and that feeling that had his gut wrenching intensifies. He's starting to regret his question…

"Natsu… I-I'm breaking up with you," he turns in a way that his face is darkened and Natsu's unable to react.

"What?" he finally yells.

* * *

><p>One week has passed and only now did things get to normal – slowly, very slowly – after the <em>big row<em> that had had a sort of out of control and clearly pissed Natsu fighting Gray – and for real. Gray's temper had also snapped at one point and they had only been separated when some of the other Guild members, that had arrived in the meanwhile, intervened.

The boys had heard the most legendary reprimand (some were already calling it _The Reprimand_) only to part ways without a glance at the other.

The whole Guild had been astonished.

What in the world might've happened to change so many things?

During the previous week Natsu has had the support of Lucy and Happy (they had gone to a simple mission which has contributed to distract him) and also had had a frightening tête-à-tête with Erza.

But he had survived, just completed the mission and not thought (too much) about Gray and his stupid behavior.

So what wasn't his surprise when, the morning after completing the mission, he entered the Guild and found Gray and Juvia sitting _too close_ for his liking, in one of the tables.

He shot a questioning look at Lucy (who just shrugged) and was met with Mira's sad, compassionate smile.

"Good morning," she greets normally while her hands busied themselves behind the counter.

"Good morning," Lucy and Happy greeted back and Natsu only mumbles a " 'morning…"

"Could you, you know, tell us what's going on in there?" at Mira's blank (_it has to be on purpose_, thought Natsu) they kept on. "Not that there's a problem or isn't right but it's a bit unusual to see Juvia so _close_ to Gray. It's a bit…strange…" Lucy struggles a bit to let out the words as she throws worried looks at Natsu.

"Huh," Mirajane falteres and looks sadly from Lucy to Natsu and she isn't capable of looking them in the eye when she replies. "Sorry to be the one to tell you but these two are dating. It started-" Natsu's eyes widen, he feels as if the ground had been pulled out from under his feet and his mouth falls open. Nothing comes out of it.

From far away he can hear Lucy's worried voice, calling him and asking if he's okay, grabbing his forearm.

In the next moment the celestial mage is startled when Natsu starts laughing – hysterically.

"Natsu…" Lucy looks at him, taken aback.

"Are you alright?" Happy's hovering nearby, worried, his eyes going from Natsu to Lucy and Mirajane only to get back to Natsu.

The fire mage places a hand on the counter to hoist himself from his bent position, breathing with some difficulty. He waves at them distractedly as a sign that everything is fine. He looks around and notices that his hysteric bout has roused the attention of the few people that are currently at the Guild and he notices that among them, they also have Gray's and Juvia's attention. Something cold settles on his shoulders and his spine grows stiff as he sets his shoulders back and answers in kind, to the knowing looks that those two are throwing.

His ire's spiked and he has to use his willpower not to go to their table and let his hanger break free in the form of his fists, because then he would snap and vent all his frustration in that lying piece of shit!

* * *

><p>Not long after, he's at Lucy's place. She has dragged him there and is trying to get his attention. Unfortunately Natsu's so deeply in thought that nothing comes through.<p>

'I can't believe it!' he thinks. 'How is it possible that he's already with Juvia if we only broke up a week ago? Were his feelings for me so shallow that he has already overcome me? What happened, Gray? What?' he demands, screams even, inside his head.

Outside he enters into another bout of hysterical laughter, his legs bending so that he can rest his forehead on his knees. One hand runs savagely over his spiked locks and he hugs his knees, trying to put himself together.

He still can't believe it – how in the world has this happened? Just a couple of days ago his life was great. Now it is freefalling into depths well hidden in his psyche. And of course that the motive for his laughter is just that if not doing it he will succumb to the wave of hurt that is drowning him, trying not to let go and allow this strange urge to cry win. He is taking control of himself again, he can't cry and if anyone points that some of his guffaws are more sobs than anything he will deny it vehemently.

It takes a bit more of effort but Lucy and Happy manage to help him to calm down and he assures them that he's feeling much better at that point.

He gets up and looks out the window, mumbling something that sounds like he should be heading home. He also asks her and Happy if the blue cat could spend the night at her house.

He needs time to be alone.

It takes a bit of convincing that everything is fine and that he isn't about to do something he will regret later, only then did they agree.

Natsu finds himself at home, finally. He lets the lights remain off, not wanting to see what he's going to do next. Not that it is something terrible. At first he stands at the center of his living room and then things happen in a blur – a noisy blur since he almost can't see anything.

As some moonlight enters through a sliver of the blinds he notices the wreckage he had just done to his house, while searching for some sort of relief.

He hasn't found any.

There's only the feeling of a vice squeezing his heart – the same from earlier that day – and everything else is blurring against that pain.

His legs fail him and he crumbles right at the center of the living room. His hands find their way to his face as he just shakes his head.

This is _not_ happening.

* * *

><p>A few more days went by and Natsu's behavior is more like himself again, looking excited about some mission or another or entering the Guild's brawls but he's still not the same. The spark of his old self is missing and the ones currently closer to him can't help but notice the <em>hollow<em> feeling that appears every time he goes quiet.

He even manages to talk – in an overly polite manner that basically screams _fake_ – to Gray and Juvia.

One day the whole group's sitting at the same table, having lunch. This has become a rare occurrence because Gray's always with Juvia now and the others keep doing things together.

Lucy is complimenting Juvia's accessories, she has a necklace with a blue stone that symbolizes a whirlpool. Juvia starts blushing and returns the compliment – Lucy's new sandals are really pretty.

Everybody's immersed in the conversations so they don't notice the looks that Natsu throws at Juvia or, more accurately, at the necklace. It has caught his attention early, how that thing sometimes glows or is surrounded by a yellow shimmer. It gives him the creeps. And he also feels a little queasy after, the same feeling as if he were inside a train but knowing that he was in firm ground.

It was weird.

The meal continues normally. When it ends each member's moving to attend to their own businesses, still chatting excitedly and Lucy has already started a complex argument, about something in a book she was reading, with Erza and Levi. Natsu's heading towards them, thinking about spending some time of the afternoon nagging Lucy. As he turns he notices Juvia's evil smirk as she enlaces both her arms around Gray's left arm. That gave him pause, in such a way that Happy asks him if he's alright. Natsu dismisses his worry and keeps walking. It must've been just his imagination.

The rest of the day passes in a blur. Gray and Juvia went on a mission as did Erza. Lucy's being hugely sympathetic and stood behind, backed up by Happy and they both try to lift Natsu's morale.

That night he asks once again if Happy may stay with Lucy, he needs a little more space again. And considering that the other time he _just_ wrecked his house, the friends decide that it wouldn't be too bad…

* * *

><p>Natsu enters his house.<p>

He lets the door close heavily behind and starts walking to his room.

He didn't bother with any light. For the moment it feels good to move in an environment that is the same as his mind, darkness.

On his way he sheds his clothes, dejectedly, his mind filled with thoughts that didn't help at all.

He's lucky for having the house for himself this night. It was hard enough to portray a semblance of neutrality all the time but today it had felt like the last straw. Something was going to give at this point. It had to! And he sort of feared that it was going to be his sanity…

He reaches his bed and flops onto it, the mattress sighing a little. Natsu lets out a sigh of his own.

It's impossible. He's not going to get any sleep tonight… there were too many things racing through his mind and they had a common theme, the reason for all the havoc, for the mess his life has become.

And it isn't that he's being melodramatic. No. But he feels that he is, at least minimally, right. After all, what could one person do when the one that had brought a strange stability to his life just started walking away without looking back? Without a glance, without a word.

What kind of person did that – but a coward?

And the Gray Natsu knew was no such thing. What might've happened to make things change so much?

And what can Natsu do to get over it too? It would be rather nice to let it all lie in the past and continue his life…

But, right now he can't do much except lie in bed.

He closes his eyes (not that it mattered much in the already dark room) and inhaled.

His heartbeat starts racing.

There's a scent here somewhere that – oh – is making his body react. He tries to get more of it, find from where the subtle (and thank the gods for his developed sense of smell) scent comes from. He gets up and goes to the chair that's by the closet, on the far wall and, over the back of the chair, there it is.

It is a shirt.

One of Gray's that he probably forgot here. But how come that it still has…? Nevermind that, he doesn't have to think about it now.

He gets back on the bed and sits on it, his back resting against the wall.

Natsu brings the shirt up and lets himself be surrounded by the scent of Gray, that coolness that always heightened his fire.

Unsurprisingly he gets hard. His right hand closes loosely around his member. He starts stoking, lazily, eyes closed once again. It isn't difficult for him to imagine that the hand touching him is Gray's. He squeezes a little and his breath hitches. At that precise moment he can _see_ Gray's smirk and feel the pace go up a notch.

His left hand lets go of the shirt, it falls to the bed and bundles right beside his hip, the fabric's touch managing to connect him to the source of his pleasure.

The now free hand starts wandering, cupping his face, a thumb swiping across his lips, breaching that wet warmness. But the hand descends to his chin, nails scratching lightly on his Adam's apple and then the hand splays on his neck. It doesn't press or apply any strength but Natsu can see the possessive sign for what it is. And he's also sure that if he opens his eyes Gray will be looking at him intently, eyes slightly wild with lust.

The hand continues to trail downwards, leaving feathery touches on his collarbone that only serve to enhance the feeling of his nipple being pinched and that action elicits a chocked off moan from him.

His head lolls back to rest against the wall and he tries to reign on his breathing. He also notices that the other hand had stopped moving so it begins once again, now helped by the precome that is now flowing.

The hand toying with his nipple works on it until it pebbles. Then proceeds in a similar way on the other. Once that task is done the hand resumes its downwards motion. To help it, Natsu opens his legs wider, so that they are bent and feet flat on the bedsheet.

His breathing's coming heavy, filling the room but Natsu can hear Gray, his voice husky and demanding while his hand goes to Natsu's balls. They're massaged distractedly and Gray leans to whisper filthy things on the fire mage's ear, the pace of the hand on his erection increasing.

Sweat beads on Natsu's forehead, his magic having nothing to do with the heat, and while he's reacting correctly to the hands that are playing with his body, he's biting back his reactions, not wanting to let the other see the control he has over him – his body _is_ already betraying him, allowing Gray to win. He can't let that happen, he has to get rid of Gray, make him lose this power over him.

As Natsu struggles with himself, Gray bites his ear and orders him to come, in such a husky way that Natsu's orgasm's wretched out of him.

"_G—_" he bites viciously on his lip, cutting off the word. The metallic taste of blood fills his mouth as his eyes shot wide open.

To the darkness.

Where it all began…

As the last bits of his strength bleed out from his body (with his orgasm) he slumps to the side, over the shirt, and lays there for long moments, his hands grasping tightly on the sheet.

He finally gropes around tiredly for the bed sheet to cover himself and curls up in a tight ball.

He squeezes his eyes shut tightly and tries to calm his breathing – but it is too hard.

Not for the first time in a while he feels that he is truly alone.

* * *

><p>Life continues, monotonously, until one morning when Natsu's sitting at a table that is slightly hidden. He's half-asleep and not even the succulent scent of the food that is in front of him manages to wake him from his torpor.<p>

Gray and Juvia enter the Guild, strutting as if they own the place. Natsu's first reaction's to want to punch them but it is promptly engulfed by the strange apathy that everyday sits on his shoulders and envelopes him a little tighter. So he groans inwardly and tries to hide and pass as unnoticed as possible. Their discussion, however, gets his attention.

"I don't know Juvia, we just got back yesterday," Gray's shaking his head.

"But Gray-sama, this is a simple mission. Like all the others that we've had before," Juvia's, suddenly in front of him (from his vantage point Natsu only manages to see her head in front of Gray's – and whatever implications might come from it are promptly shut down by his brain – and he almost lets out a gasp when he notices how one of her hands slid to his inner thigh and Natsu's just outraged) and when she goes back to her original position Gray's agreeing with her. "Alright, we'll go."

"We better hurry then. I know that the train will depart soon."

After that they're crossing the threshold of the Guild in less than two minutes, all set to a new mission.

Natsu's only able to get up and get to the counter, asking Mira if she knows where the other two are going. Mirajane's distracted but answers him anyway, they're heading towards Crisipo, where they are to recover the _Red Tapestry_ from some crooks that had stolen it. A priori it's nothing much and can be easily done.

But Natsu has a bad feeling about it. And something's telling him to follow them, to go after Gray. As an afterthought he asks Mira to make so that Erza, Lucy and Happy got to that place as soon as possible too. They'll probably be needed.

It doesn't take long until he too is running out of the Guild and towards the train station. He almost doesn't notice buying the ticket or getting into the train. However he notices the train moving – it doesn't take too long until he slumps into a seat and is on the brink of passing out, though he somehow remains semi-aware of things.

* * *

><p>It's a pretty uneventful ride, one that takes approximately three hours and they get to the village in the middle of the afternoon. Juvia's filling Gray in the aspects of the mission but, so far, it doesn't seem all that hard.<p>

They go to the majestic (yet deserted) manor that occupies the center of the village. It is a different village as the rest of it was built in a way that seems similar to a spiderweb. The manor is huge, with a lush garden and some decaying structures surrounding it from opposite sides. The back is, unfortunately, in the same state and vines cover and pierce the walls. Juvia gives a small sigh on his side. She must've noticed the different colors of the flowers that sprout from the vines.

They better enter the house and look for the intended target. And they better end this quickly because there's something that doesn't feel right to Gray.

At first, everything's fine, the house isn't booby-trapped or holds signs of being inhabited at least not in a good while. It is dark, dusty and moldy – not a pleasant combination.

As they head to the large salon where the target supposedly is, stepping into one of the stairs makes Gray look down. But… the middle has signs of use, there is no dust in them.

Warning bells sound in the ice mage's mind, he feels – no, he knows – that he's heading to a trap but… He's just going to do it.

On his peripheral vision he looks at Juvia and, there it is, the subtle shimmer.

He frowns.

The salon is huge, an ample, empty space in the middle of the manor that has multi-storey windows and in which the walls are covered by staircases that crisscross each other.

In the center of the massive room lies a large square in bright reds and oranges that are outlined by the somber blacks and greys. Beside it, a man dressed in deep green robes stands, looking their way and smiling smugly at them.

"Come here, I have what you want…" he beckons.

Before Gray can do anything Juvia marches into the room, descends the main stairs and stands, mechanically, in front of this man. Gray hurries after her, trying to cover her, in case.

The man sees this and smirks.

"Don't you worry my friend. I'm not going to hurt her, " he pauses and assesses Gray from top to bottom with a judgmental glance. "You, on the other hand…"

There is an intense flash and when Gray manages to see again Juvia has her back turned at the man and is also looking at Gray. Her eyes are blank and the necklace is shinning brightly.

"You're too dangerous to let out on a leash. You would cut it before long," he has produced a bunch of papers from his pockets that now slip through his fingers and fall to the ground.

"Oh, I see. So you're the man that started all of this. But, tell me, what's in here for you? You don't have anything to gain from this-" he's interrupted by a shrieking cackle. The man has even thrown his head back.

"It helps, it helps a lot in my research…" he looks at Gray with a slightly insane grin.

"Research… What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm working in the reflection and refractometric contents for elemental beings and this friend of yours here, is perfect for my experiments. Or she would if she didn't have this strange attachment to that crummy Guild or to you. So I helped her and now she's helping me-" with a snap of his fingers Juvia attacks Gray who, for the moment, and in shock, just defends.

He has had a couple of close calls, but can't believe that Juvia is attacking him for real.

"Come on Gray! Snap out of it. That's not Juvia," a voice breaks the silence. "She's just a puppet now. As long as she has that necklace-" a cloud of steam appeares in front of Gray.

"No. You can do whatever you want to that necklace but this puppet here is _mine_ already. I took over her whole being with the complexometry…"

"Fuck!" someone says – he isn't sure of which one of them did.

The man cackles maniacally again.

Out of nowhere Juvia lunges at Gray once again but he just dodges her and runs towards the man that has orchestrated everything. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wonders if there are any more enemies nearby. Then again, Natsu will probably handle them.

* * *

><p>Following Gray and Juvia alone has been a bit of a nightmare – first it is the whole train ride and then he has to be careful and make in a way so that the others won't notice him. And what the hell are they doing, going straight at that manor?<p>

'What the- Gray wouldn't-' It is a bit too stupid of him to just go to the place without looking at the surroundings first. 'Something's really not right in here…'

He also circles the place and follows them at a good distance. He can hear them exchanging a few words but nothing else. He can only follow, really.

Entering the manor, it has all the signs of being abandoned but there's something off about all this situation. He can't pinpoint where the problem resides but that something is fishy, it is.

As the others go to the center of the massive room, Natsu sees the glow from Juvia again. And the guy looks positively insane. And, from what he's saying, he has a hold on Juvia. That is clearly proved instants later when she starts attacking the ice mage – who is only backing off and half-heartedly defending. When a spear-like column of water's heading towards Gray, the fire mage doesn't think, just reacts and a column of fire meets the water. From it steam start filling the room. His shouts manage to snap Gray out of his shock and then all the bodies are hidden by the slowly spreading cloud of steam.

Natsu runs to the middle of the room, or at least tries to because he is intercepted by Juvia. Her eyes have a blankness that contrasts sharply with the fury that marks her face.

"This…is…all…your…FAULT!" from under her feet a series of tentacle-like tubes of water (gyrating at an astounding speed) appear and enlarge with her rage.

Natsu finds himself dodging and jumping around to try to evade the yellow-colored threads.

As he pauses to assess the situation his tongue peeks out and wets his lips.

This is going to be good…

A full on battle between water and fire.

Interesting…

* * *

><p>Gray follows the guy to an adjoining room (wait, is this a greenhouse?) where the glassy walls let the afternoon sun create a stuffy environment.<p>

'Smart,' Gray has to hand it to him, at least.

"Come on then, I wanna see what it is that had my study object so attached to you," the words ooze with contempt.

The man makes his hands twitch in an awkward manner and from them light takes form. Well, for now it isn't much of a form but at least it has an elongated, cylinder-like form.

"Let's see how you can handle this." And he starts throwing those things at Gray.

Gray's first shield is pierced as easily as a hot knife cutting through warm butter. Gray only escapes by a few centimeters and even that way he feels the warmth on his skin.

And thus begins a strange battle where Gray is in a clear disadvantage but, as he is inspired, he finds a couple of inventive ways to counteract the attacks.

* * *

><p>They're both in pretty bad shape, Gray's body is scorched and singed and he's only standing because of the light thingies (he can't exactly say what they are, his mind's really a bit jumbled at the moment) that are piercing his feet in such a way that his knees locked and he can't move. He's panting, has a split lip from where blood flows liberally and his left eye has swollen closed. The skin on the left side of his face – with a bigger incidence on his cheek – is pale and blistered with some pretty serious burns.<p>

But his foe isn't in better condition, at this point. First of all, he's lying on the ground, and only manages to lift his upper body a bit by leaning on his elbows. His legs aren't moving and neither is his right arm. His right ear is of a noticeable blue already and his breathing is coming out raggedly. A weak shimmer appears on and off on his frozen members but it doesn't appear to be helping matters.

"Ah…ah… you're not going t make it out of here…" the man extends his left arm but it falls to the ground and trembles.

"It doesn't matter. At least nobody will be harmed by you again…"

Long moments go by as both opponents try to gather their strength for what presumably will be their last attack. A loud crash and sound of glass shattering ends the standstill.

Both attacks are unleashed.

After letting go of his ice weapon Gray's blinded (once again) by an intense light that is coming towards him. He's about to close his eyes again but something dark gets in the way and shields his sight. It's Natsu! He jumped to shield him.

But that leaves him being hit instead of Gray.

In a moment that seems to both speed up and freeze so that everything happens in slow motion, Gray watches Natsu's frantic expression widen with surprise and then morph to pain. Looking down Gray sees Natsu's chest glow yellow but then it that light concentrates in a few key points and the light is coming across the fire mage. A hole appears in Natsu's chest and red explodes and surrounds them.

Gray's eyes widen as much as they can as he is covered by all sorts of warm, squishy and red things. Before his horrified eyes he sees Natsu's hand come up, as if to try to get to him and then that glint of life evades the fire mage's eyes forever.

Then time decides to resume its normal flow and the warm body hits Gray, making them fall to the ground. The ice mage doesn't feel the fall or how his injured body screams at him. He also is unable to register the gurgling sounds of someone choking on their own spit.

* * *

><p>Gray lies on the ground, eyes open and unfocused, under Natsu's deadweight (because that's what it is now) in shock until Erza, Lucy and Happy get to that place.<p>

The shriek of horror and Erza's commanding voice sound far away. He can't…just…still can't…

Strong hands start removing the weight that lies on his chest but he doesn't let go, he grabs at it in desperation because if this weight isn't here, where should it be?

Soft cooing noises reach him and someone helps (or rather, forces) him to sit up. Hands try to clean clotted dark red from him and to take the cold, firm and spongy thing that covers his left cheek and he can hear the hiss that follows.

The hands move more urgently, then, urging him to move, faster.

An arm circles his waist and holds him upright and proceeds to drag him out of there.

As they walk, Gray's in a daze, on their way to the broken 'wall' of the greenhouse they come across Juvias's body. It's lying on the ground like a broken doll, her head turned in a strange way and her limbs making awkward angles.

* * *

><p>Five years have passed since that terrible mission.<p>

And the Guild hasn't been the same ever since.

It's true that they kept fighting and having fun and all but everybody knows that there's something missing.

Gray has almost become a shadow of himself, he doesn't seem to be living anymore.

He just goes through the motions.

And Natsu's death has also created a rift among the team – Happy no longer comes to the Guild when Gray's there and sometimes the ice mage can feel that the girls are siding along the blue cat.

The ice mage has recovered physically too, the only signs of what happened are the burn marks that he has no problem in showing, the skin on the left side of his face is irregular and the burn has also affected his eyesight, he doesn't have much visibility on his left eye – but none of that matters now because he simply doesn't care. His magic has also become weaker, only flaring to what it used to be in brief moments in the missions, when the protection of a fellow's imperative.

Natsu's funeral was been majestic, and with the utmost honors – and it was in this precise day, five years ago.

Gray's at the cemetery, standing in front of Natsu's tombstone. It had been made of the top quality stuff. He's patting it as a sad smile flutters to his lips.

"It's been a while, you know? Since I talked to you. Before all that. It was my fault, you know? And I really, really need to apologize. For everything.

Ah, I know that I was an asshole to you but it was for the best. I didn't want to hurt you that way, you know? I was just trying to keep you safe and I know that you're not someone that needs to be kept safe. But I had to, see, it was instinctive.

But when I saw the war you waged and later won. I'm sorry for Juvia but… And we can't exactly call that winning, right?" he pauses and tips his head back, looking at the sky. He tries to gather some courage.

"You didn't have to. Because the trophy or whatever it was that you were looking for was with you the whole time, you shit for brains fire mage. Why the fuck did you have to jump in front of me? I could've passed this, you selfish bastard!" he punctuated these last statements with some punches at the stone, mindless of the skin of his hand that was breaking bloodily, or the pain that was shooting up his arm at the crushed bones.

* * *

><p>Back at the Guild, Lucy has a drink between her hands and is talking to Erza, sadly. They all know what day is today and they are doing a sort of balance of the last few years.<p>

"How do you think that Gray will take this, this year?"

"Badly, as it's to be expected," Erza lets her chin rest on her hand, while the other hand moves her cup, making the beverage swirl.

"We should try to do something. You also noticed how he's slipping away, right?"

"I did, but what can we-"

A massive flash covers Magnolia and is followed by a freezing breeze that cuts sharply into every corner.

Seconds later the whole Guild's in turmoil.

They run to the cemetery only to let out a massive gasp at what awaits them.

Before them, Gray is sitting with his back against Natsu's tombstone and they are both covered by a thick layer of eternal ice.

Now they can both rest, together forever.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Huh, so here's the new story. It was inspired by Hatsune Miku's song _Koi wa Sensou_ at first but doesn't have anything to do with it with the exception of the title. It doesn't have much of a happy theme because I didn't feel like it (I'm a bit on the evil side now, it would seem) and the end was a bit sad but, hey, this came out in a more hopeful way than expected. Gods, I suck at writing any semblance of angst or something of that kind. And there were many changes from what was initially planned (the gore was downplayed a lot as were the 'fight scenes' but I'm terrible at them so it's not much a surprise, right?).

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this bit, drop a review – they're highly appreciated… :P

And, yeah, this wasn't beta-ed yet and there are probably some glaring mistakes but it was late and I just wanted to post this and finish this part for now... (I happen to do some things on a whim) ^^'


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